The present invention relates generally to child restraints, and more particularly to a child safety seat to be used with a watercraft, the child safety seat being automatically releasable from the watercraft to float the child at a surface of the water.
Children traveling in an automobile are required by law to be secured to a child safety seat to provide the child a degree of support and protection from injuries due to sudden changes of direction or an impact with another object. Child safety seats typically include a rigid seat coupled to a seat of the automobile by a base that is fixed to the seat by straps or other fasteners. Padding covers the interior surface of the seat upon which children sit to make the seat more comfortable. The seat is easily coupled to and removed from the base by using a quick release mechanism. Although adapted for use in an automobile, conventional child safety seats are not sufficiently buoyant to float a child secured thereto on water, and do not include ballast devices to maintain the child safety seat in an upright orientation in the water.
Similar seats to be used in a marine environment are known and generally include the conventional child safety seat used in automobiles fitted with a floatation device. These seats are used aboard watercraft in lieu of conventional personal floatation devices such as life vests because children in live vests must be supervised at all times by an adult. Further, the marine child safety seats protect children during operation of the watercraft from being thrown overboard or into an object, subjecting children to injury.
Marine child safety seats are generally coupled to a fixture of a watercraft with a base or straps, similar to those used to couple child safety seats to automobile seats. Like conventional automobile seats, an adult occupant of the watercraft must manually release the child safety seat from the fixture it is coupled to. If the watercraft is taking on water as a result of a collision with a foreign object and is threatening to sink, an adult incapacitated during the collision may not be able to release a child secured to a child safety seat. This creates the possibility that the child safety seat, along with the child, will go down with the watercraft. In fact, this is one reason why there has historically been a barrier to obtaining the approval of child safety seats for use in a marine environment by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Additional features included on child safety seats for use in marine environments often interfere with the use of the same child safety seat in an automobile. The floatation device, for example, is often a ring or other fixed shape structure formed from a buoyant material. These floatation devices are typically provided on the back-supporting portion of the conventional child safety seat for marine applications. In such a position, the floatation device requires a large area for installation of the child safety seat in automobiles that can have only a limited area available.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a child restraint system to be used aboard a watercraft that would not require adult intervention to release a child secured to the watercraft using the system in an emergency situation. Additionally, the system should maintain the child in an upright orientation while floating on the water and include features that maximize the chances that the child will be recovered safely.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a child restraint system for securing a child aboard a watercraft, the child restraint system including a base to be secured to a fixture of the watercraft, a seat assembly adapted to be releasably coupled to the base in a manner to support the child in a seated position, a restraint for securing the child to the seat, a release mechanism that cooperates with the base and the bottom portion of the seat assembly when the seat assembly is coupled to the base, and a floatation device to float the child on a surface of water such that the head of the child is maintained above the surface of the water. The release mechanism automatically releases the child from the watercraft when a portion of the seat assembly is immersed in the water.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention includes a child seat to be coupled to a fixture of a watercraft for securing a child thereto, the seat including a bottom portion and a rear portion shaped to support a child in a seated position, a restraint for securing the child to the seat, a release mechanism for automatically releasing the child from the fixture when a portion of the seat is immersed in water, and a floatation device to float the child on the water when the child is released from the fixture such that the head of the child is maintained above the water.